Connection joint for paper-board-made packing boxes or the like



Dec. 28, 1965 B. CHIORRI 3,225,008

CONNECTION JOINT FOR PAPER-BOARD-MADE PACKING BOXES OR THE LIKE FiledAug. 26, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 6 4 7 '/0 7f 1 a 6 7 5 9 2 5 3 71 9 I 7 7i 10 6 6 INVENTOR.

Dec. 28, 1965 B. CHIORRI CONNECTION JOINT FOR PAPER-BOARD-MADE PACKINGBOXES OR THE LIKE Filed Aug. 26, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.Bar/Zz/omw 07/0? BY I lgewf United States Patent Office 3,226fid8Patented Dec. 28, 1965 3,226,008 CONNECTION JOINT FOR PAPER-BOARD-MADEPACKING BOXES OR THE LIKE Bartolomeo Chiorri, Via XX Settemhre 5, Monza,Italy Filed Aug. 26, 1963, Ser. No. 304,739 Claims priority, applicationItaly, Aug. 28, 1962, Patent 674,925 1 Claim. (Cl. 22949) This inventionrelates to connection joints for packing boxes made of paperboard orsimilar materials.

It is known that, generally speaking, when manufacturing paperboard-madepacking boxes, the process starts from punch-cut material having doublesides and provided with multiple tangs. Making up the widely known typeof box requires, therefore, lifting of the sides, their folding overtowards the inside of the double sides and the fitting of the tangs incarefully pre-arranged slots. At this stage, in various cases, it isproceeded with by effecting a strengthening process by means of metalstaples, adhesive tape or by tangs fitted under the sides folded overtowards the inside of the box, with subsequent insertion along the boxcorners of angular pieces which actas supports or spacers in the case ofboxes being piled up one on another. It may be readily understood, thatthe time spent for making up paperboard boxes, eg of the type justdescribed, is a considerable one and that the operation itself requiresa certain amount of labour while the product is not always top quality,as box sides tend to open under stress during transport with consequentdamage to the content. Furthermore, the initial blank involves acomplicated shape and considerable sizes in comparison with the size ofthe end product obtained and the angular elements, whose only task isthat of acting as supports and spacers, which are fitted to the alreadymade-up boxes, form a set of accessories which influence the overallcost of boxes obtained, both on account of their own cost and because ofthe time required for fitting. It should also be noted that thesesupports and spacer elements are generally of irregular shape Withundercut portions, so that their manufacture is slow and expensive;actually, if they are made of plastic material, they are obtained bymeans of press-casting, presses being used in the case of sheet metal,and by what may almost be called artisan processes, if the material iswood.

Among other things, the manufacture of the aforesaid elements requirescostly equipment of dies and punches as each box size needs a specialangular element and, consequently, a special die or punch.

It is an object of this invention to eliminate the above drawbacks byproviding a connection joint for the manufacture of boxes made ofpaper-board or similar materials, which connection joint allows of usingmuch smaller punches than those required for known models, reducing, atthe same time, in a very considerable manner the time involved formaking up the conventional types of boxes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a joint which should notrequire operations such as folding, inserting tangs, using of staples oradhesive tape for making-up the boxes, as in the case in themanufiacture of known types.

A main object of the invention is that of eliminating the preliminarypreparation step of boxes.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a box joint whichwill allow of shipping the boxes laid out flat, to the users, as aconsequence of the 'fact that assembly is easily and quickly etfected,considerably less space being thus required for shipping and storingempty packing boxes.

Not the least important object is the provision of a connection joint,according to this invention, which is simple in shape, so that itsmanufacture requires only simple operations which are already well knownand which furthermore are adjustable for all box heights without specialoperations or costly dies being necessary.

The foregoing and other objects are reached by means of a connectionjoint for the manufacture of packing boxes according to the invention,characterized in that the box is mainly composed of a length of cut-outmaterial whose section is formed of a practically U-shaped portion andby a diaphragm joined on one side to the central part of the aforesaidU-shaped portion and, on' the other to a transversal outer wing fittedwith extensions which extends in a direction which is essentiallyopposite to that of the arms of the aforesaid U portion and which arespaced from the latter by a space which correspond-s approximately tothe thickness of the box parts to be joined, foldable strips beingprovided at the corners of the base sheet forming the box body, forengagement with the elements of aforesaid joint.

Further features and advantages of the invention will be more clearlyset forth in the description in full detail of preferred embodiments ofthe invention, which are, however, to be intended in a non-limiting Wayas to the inventive features, these embodiments being illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a base sheet, in a plan developed position,

FIG. 2 is a perspective of a connection joint according to theinvention,

FIG. 3 is :a cross sectional view of said connection joint,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a box corner before fit- =tin g thejoint,

FIG. 5 is a cross section of a joint fitted to a box corner,

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an assembled box,

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a pile of boxes,

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a base sheet according to an alternativeembodiment of the invention,

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the application of an alternativeembodiment of the joint according to the invention,

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the application of another embodimentof a joint according to the invention.

With reference to these figures, the box is formed by (FIG. 1) foldingover a base sheet (which has been obtained by punching operation from ablank) and by fitting a joint according to the invention, at each cornerof the folded sheet. More specifically, the base sheet appears tobe madeof a quadrangular central part'l limited by impressions 2 and 3 which,in their turn, determine the limits of the relative sides 4 and 5.

At the ends of sides 4 and 5 strips-rcspectively 6 and 7--are providedand the limits of these strips are determined by the respectiveimpressions 8 and 9.

Further, sides 4 and 5 are provided with slot 10 and 11 located at theedges so as to allow the boxes to be aerated.

The connection joint (FIGS. 2, 3 and 5) is composed of a profile piece,or integral elongated section member, the cross-section of whichcomprises a practically U- shaped portion whose arms 12 converge betweeneach other, while the central part 13 is joined to one side of thepartition or diaphragm 14 thereby forming gaps between diaphragm 14 andarms 12; the other side of this diaphragm is fixed to a cross Wing 15,having arms 16 which are divergent in a direction that is complementaryto the direction of arms 12 (element 15 is, in section, approximatelysemi-hexagonal in shape). Arms 16 are spaced, in respect of arms 12 by agap which is approximately equal to the thickness of base sheet andwhich extends substantially in the direction of said arms 12 and a at anacute angle "to the gap between the portions 12 and 14.

Box assembly is effected by folding over the base sheet alongimpressions 2 and 3 in such a way as to raise the sides and bysubsequently folding over towards the inside strips 6 and 7 so as toarrange the corners as illustrated in FIG. 4.

When this has been done, a connection joint is fitted to match eachcorner, so as to force strips 6 and 7 to enter into the joint itself,while the box corner is surrounded and strengthened by element 15 (andrespective arms or extensions 16).

The manner in which the joint is fitted clearly appears from FIG. 5. Ascan easily be understood, the box sides are firmly held and there is nodanger that the box should open in any Way due to stress applied duringtransport, since the more the joint is stressed the more it strengthensits engagement with the folded sides.

The assembled box appears to be as shown in FIG. 6, While a pile ofboxes may be formed in the manner illustrated in FIG. 7 (the latterfigure clearly shows how openings 10 and 11 ensure efiicient aeration ofthe inside of boxes).

As can be easily understood, on account of the simple shape of theparts, whereof the joint according to the invention is made, such ajoint may be obtained by means of drawing operations so that, by merelyrotating the drawbenc-h handle which move-s the cutting device, it ispossible to obtain joints of various lengths according to the sizesrequired for specific heights of packing boxes.

As can be seen, the making-up of a packing box, when recourse is had toconnection joints according to the invention, can be carried out in avery practical and simple way as the fitting of the joints is etfe-ctedby simply having said joints mounted onto the edges of the base sheet,such corners having been previously folded over.

It is not necessary to effect any special fitting in, or folding andthere is not subsequently required any strengthening device as metalstaples for the formation of box as are used for conventional types ofboxes.

This, in respect of already known types of boxes affords a considerablesaving of time when assembling the boxes. Actually it has been foundthat the time required for making-up boxes of conventional types is aminimum of three minutes, equal to a production of 20 boxes per hour; onthe other hand, assembly of a box by means of joints according to theinvention required 20 seconds, equivalent to an hourly output of 180boxes. As to the saving on materials, it has been found that aconventional type box requires cardboard blanks having an area of 9900sq. cm. while a box of the same size, made by means of the jointaccording to this invention requires a cardboard blank having a surfaceof 4800 sq. cm. i.e. approximately one half of the former with lesscardboard scrap. The economic result obtained is clear and requires nofurther comments.

In an alternative embodiment, the connection joint may be shaped forinstance as shown in FIG. 9.

The sec-tion of the shaped parts is formed of two parts, 17 and 18,which give rise to a U shaped member with arms 19 and 20 which arerespectively parallel to each other, said parts being joined to eachother by the diaphragm 21. Wing portion 18, which is of smaller sizehas, consequently, its arms or bracket portions 20 within the spacecomprised between arms 19 of central part 17 and separated by thediaphragm. Parts 17 and 18 are both provided with extensions 22 and 23located at the outside of arms 19 and 20 respectively.

The base sheet (-FIG. 8) which is suitable for use in the forming of thebox by fitting the joint according to the invention and according to thealternative embodiment previously described, presents sides 4 and which,besides of being provided with strips 6 and 7 respectively, as in thebase sheet formerly described in FIG. 1, comprise strips 6 and 7' fittedas an extension of strips 6 and 7 respectively and delimited byimpressions 8 and 9'.

To proceed with the assembling, extensions of sides 4 and 5 formed ofstrips 6 and 6 and 7, 7, respectively, are folded in a V shape as shownin FIGURE 9. Thereafter at each corner, a joint according to thealternative embodiment of the invention is fitted, by the same method asdisclosed for the first joint described, To the same base sheetdescribed and illustrated in FIG. 8, the joint as per FIG. 10 may befitted, thus forming a second embodiment of the invention. As it can beseen, the arms of the central portion 28 which are practically U shaped,after a first length 25 which is normal to the central portion 28 ofaforesaid U shaped part, have extensions and portions 26 towards insideof above mentioned U shaped part. v

The diaphragm 27 is joined on one side to the central part 24 of centralportion 28 of aforesaid U shaped part, while on the other side it isjoined to the cross wing 29 which is parallel to the central portion 28of the U shaped part.

The folding over of strips 6, 6' and 7, 7' so as to form a box by meansof such a joint is clearly shown in FIG. 10. As it may be noted, thealternative embodiments of the connection joint according to theinvention allow boxes to be formed with bevelled edges and, moregenerally speaking, allow also rectilinear joining of two flaps to beperformed.

Further, it is obvious that openings 10 for aeration can be eliminatedif goods being transported do not require air to be changed.

I claim:

A connection joint for connecting folded corner edges of packing boxes,comprising an integral elongated section member having in itscross-section a U-shaped portion with two spaced apart arm portions anda central portion connecting said two arm portions and extendingtransverse thereto said arm portions having each a free extremity andmutually converging in the direction leading beyond said freeextremities, the angle of said converge'ncy being an acute angle, adiaphragm portion connected with one end thereof to an intermediateportion of said central portion and extending at a right angle therefrombetween said arm portions, said diaphragm portion having a free endprojecting beyond the free extremity of said arm portions, and beingspaced apart from said arm port-ions, a wing portion fixed on said freeend and extending transverse to said diaphragm portion above said freeextremities, said wing portion having a central portion perpendicular tosaid diaphragm portion and free ends inclined towards said freeextremities and extending along a length of said arm portions near saidfree extremities thereof and in spaced relationship thereto, thereby toprovide a first gap between said free ends and said arm portions nearsaid free extremities and extending substantially in the direction ofsaid arms, and a second gap communicating with said first gap andextending between said arms and said diaphragm member at an acute angleto said first gap.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,032,827 7/1912Hamilton 220 2,364,083 12/1944 Lindsay 220-80 2,456,929 '12/1948 Dee220-80 2,457,002 12/1948 Spiro 22080 2,912,013 11/1959 Freyholdt et al.22080 3,156,370 11/1964 Monfort 22084 X OTHER REFERENCES 19/643/29 20 4/1929 Australia.

JOSEPH R. LECLAIR, Primary Examiner. FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Examiner.

